The chip shortage has forced tech companies to re-evaluate their overseas supply chains.
Intel will invest $20 billion in a sprawling new processor manufacturing facility outside Columbus, Ohio, according to an announcement from the tech giant early Friday. The plant, billed as the single largest private-sector investment in Ohio’s history, is expected to create 3,000 jobs, based on the company’s projections, not including at least 7,000 temporary construction jobs.
Construction on the facility is scheduled to begin in late 2022, with production coming online around 2025. Intel is billing the first two plants as just the beginning of a much larger project on the roughly 1,000 acres the company has acquired in Licking County.
Intel has also pledged $100 million in education funds for the region in an effort to create the workforce needed for the chip-making facility. The money will fund collaborative research projects with universities in the area, as well as help develop curricula specific to semiconductors for undergraduate programs.